Are the Kids All Right? Intergenerational Mobility and Child Well-being in Canada

A framework for thinking about intergenerational mobility as it relates to the relationship between parent and child incomes as well as evidence on the degree and sources of intergenerational mobility in Canada is reviewed. The major conclusion is that Canadian society is characterized by a good deal of intergenerational mobility, and the available evidence suggests that being raised in low-income does not pre-ordain children to low-income in adulthood. Canada compares well in this regard to many other countries, being characterized on average by more mobility than the U.S. or U.K. and on a par with some of the most mobile nations. The sources for this pattern have to do with access to high quality education, and high quality non-monetary investments in children. However, there is no clear evidence linking the level of family income to the nature of these investments.